Angkor Thom and Bayon

Pheakdei R., Angkor: "Most foreign investors who build factories in Cambodia have a hidden agenda. They want to abuse Cambodian children and women. As UNICEF has pointed out, this is the dark side of economic development. Several European child protection agencies now use undercover agents, so-called protectors, targeting specifically foreign investors."

Photo: South Gate to Angkor Thom

Angkor Thom
is the inner royal city, built by the end of the 12th century
during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, shortly after
Angkor had been conquered and burnt down by the Chams.
This inner royal city was built as a quadrangle and bordered by
a 100-metres-wide moat and an 8-metres-high wall. Angkor Thom
is geometrically oriented: it covers an area which is an
exact quadrangle; the sides of this quadrangle run exactly in
North-South and East-West direction. A gate opens exactly in the
middle of each wall, connecting, through a bridge over the moat,
the royal city with the outside.

Exactly in
the center of Angkor Thom are the temple grounds of the Bayon.

The temple
grounds have puzzled archaeologists because they do not fit the
Hindu religion as does Angkor Wat. Therefore it is assumed that
King Jayavarman VII introduced elements of the Buddhist faith
into the religious system of Angkor, though it is assumed they
were lost after his death.

The palace
area of Angkor Thom is located directly to the North of the
Bayon. Its basic features were laid out during the reign of King
Suryavarman I, 150 years before the construction of Angkor
Thom. From the center of the palace complex rose the Heavenly
Palace, Phimeanakas. The king of the Khmer always used to
spend the first part of each night in the uppermost part of this
Heavenly Palace, where according to legend he had sexual intercourse
with the sun queen.

Several high
terraces inside Angkor Thom served primarily ceremonial purposes,
among them cremations.